Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: hwt@bwdlh490.bnr.ca (Henry Troup) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Separation of Church and State (mostly regarding abortion) Message-ID: Date: 12 Aug 90 06:08:48 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Bell-Northern Research, Ltd. Lines: 21 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article garth!dbarnes@unix.sri.com (Dave Barnes) writes: >So my first allegience to God says the laws ought to be this way, >but I can't force my dad to believe the same as I do, so the laws >ought to leave room for his views, in this case that abortion >is fine. That's the way I see it. Firstly, Canada has explicitly embraced a position of multiculturalism, not a state religion. This is roughly equivalent to the U.S. position of separation of church and state. This means that the law is and ought to be pagan - 'an so ye do no harm'. Or, to paraphrase, trying to avoid the abortion topic, the law ought to prevent those things which are univerally agreed are wrong, and leave to our discretion those things that are primarily moral, and not 'peace, order and good government'. (The last is what the Canadian constitution offers, BTW). In essence, then, the law of the land should provide the freedom to follow our consciences. -- Henry Troup - BNR owns but does not share my opinions | 21 years in Canada... uunet!bnrgate!hwt%bwdlh490 HWT@BNR.CA 613-765-2337 |